New Airport Security Measures Go Into Effect

CLEVELAND - New security measures go into effect on Friday all across the country, including at Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland, 19/43 News' Paul Orlousky reported.

Hopkins is not ready to scan each bag, so as an alternative they'll match each bag to a passenger. What that prevents is someone putting a bomb on board and leaving, but it doesn't stop a suicide bomber.

Travelers should plan on arriving at Hopkins at least two hours before their flights take off, and they should make sure that the first thing they do is to check their bags.

"I'm happy for it," Cleveland traveler Jeff Glick said. "It will make me feel safer. I'm not worried about it. I'm willing to take the time."

"I always allow time, since the incident and even before that," frequent flier Shiela House said. "I am comfortable with what they've done."

What's being done is the implementation of a positive bag-match system. Each bag will be matched to a passenger on board. It's supposed to prevent someone from slipping a bomb on the plane.

"This is going to help in a certain area of threat, however, it's not the one silver bullet that's going to solve everything," Hopkins Airport Commissioner Fred Szabo said.

Airport brass said that bag matching has been going on at Hopkins since Monday with no problems, and pledge on the record that there will be none.

Hopkins officials insist that the new requirements won't create long lines at curbside or in the terminal, but if a positive baggage match fails, those on board planes waiting to take off could be delayed out on the tarmac.

This is because security officers would have to go into the belly of the aircraft to retrieve the bag in question.

A last-minute run through the airport is most likely a think of the past because if your bags make the plane and you don't, neither of you would go anyplace. The same theory applies if you check your bags too late for a flight that you make. You'll be asked to get off.